The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Berberis plant, commonly referred to as Barberry, botanically known as Berberis thunbergii and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘ARLENE’. The new Berberis plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Grand Haven, Mich. The objective of the breeding program was to develop new unique Berberis plants with unique plant form and attractive leaves.
The new Berberis plant originated from an open-pollination in 2005 of Berberis thunbergii ‘Rose Glow’, not patented, as the female, or seed parent and an unknown selection of Berberis thunbergii as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Berberis plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor during the summer of 2011 as a single plant within the progeny of the stated open-pollination in a controlled environment in Grand Haven, Mich.
Asexual reproduction of the new Berberis plant by softwood cuttings in a controlled greenhouse environment in Grand Haven, Mich. since the summer of 2011 has shown that the unique features of this new Berberis plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.